Posted on 04/24/2013 8:15:55 AM PDT by jt2
How is it at all legal for the police to have coerced people from their homes during the house to house search that was conducted in Watertown MA last week?
By 'coerced', I mean being told to leave their residence by police SWAT teams. When you have 10 police pointing rifles at you, yelling at your to get out of your house, I'd consider that coersion.
These people were removed from their homes and forced to go someplace else. It appears that they were not 'allowed' back into their homes for hours.
How is that possible in America?
Were homeowners able to decline having their homes searched?
Were they allowed to remain or return to their homes if they wanted to?
Could they have been arrested for interfering with police work for declining to have their homes search, or for trying to remain in their homes?
This is a major story...that is being ignored by the MSM. If all of that was legal and allowable, then we really have no rights left in this police state that we live in.
Can anyone confirm that the video posted of the police forcing the people out of their home at gun point took place in Boston during the manhunt? I’ve been told that the home or street was not identified and that the video may be from an unrelated event. Would love to know if the illegal searches actually occured.
Shhhh...you're going to ruin the surprise when it happens in their town, not just chicago or watertown. A lot of freepers still think this can't happen to good, conservative supporters of law enforcement. It's just those damn new england liberals and druggies who get this treatment.
If they had multiple eye witnesses saying they saw the terrorist run into a mosque, would they have handled it the same? I doubt it. They can only get away with what the people allow. We are screwed.
You mean opposed to all the other house to house searches by swat teams in the suburbs last week? I’m sure this was just a video of some potheads getting raided and getting what was coming to them for being druggies.
Normal Germans before they put on their Nazi uniforms. Normal every day Germans after the war. Blood thirsty thugs when society allowed and requested them to be in order to round up civilian “threats” during the war. Don’t think it can’t happen here.
Theses videos are much more terrifying to me than watching the towers fall. Makes my blood boil.
> You would have made a good German.
Calm down.
This is not a new or fearful situation. Police remove folks from homes and keep them from their homes frequently, in situations involving public safety.
Recently in Texas, for example:
“After fleeing their homes in an evacuation and then being forced to stay away by safety concerns and a continuing investigation, the first wave of West residents were allowed to Saturday.”
On the other hand, shutting down the entire city of Boston while chasing down one dude on the run, and perhaps some unknown accomplices, is unprecedented, and needs revisited.
So do I, however it is tempered by the realization that these bastards had already killed civilians and an LEO, and taken a hostage earlier that night.
They knew he had not broken out of their perimeter but they could not locate him. Looking back just a few months ago we had the exact same scenario in California with the wac-a-doodle LAPD guy. He forted up with hostages for a long time and was able to avoid detection.
I am sure the Leos expected this guy had done the same thing which under the circumstances was not an unreasonable assumption given the perimeter lock down and their inability to locate the suspect.
I don't like it but what were they suppose to do just pack it up and go home knowing the guy was still somewhere close by?
I do not blame the Leos for the situation they were forced into, I blame the politicians for creating this security vulnerability in the first place.
The video I saw shows the people running from their homes like sheep with their hands up and directed to an area to be searched (without a warrant) for hand guns or pressure cookers.
How many cops in Mass turned in their badges instead of participating in that collective shitting on the constitution? I'll go out on a limb and say not a single one. All you big leo suppprters here....you think yoir friends or family members on the force will refuse to do house to house searches? If so, could I interest you in a used car?
How about something between that but far short of marching people out of their homes at the business end of sub machine guns? Can we do something like that instead before putting on our knee pads to show our unending and unquestioned support of law enforcement?
maybe because he was actually outside their perimeter.
I think the topic is an important one to discuss. We need to have parameters on this. I can also tell you that I have a friend in Watertown who was within the area of interest. She was inside posting pictures on Facebook during that time.
There were cops who saw her through the window. They motioned towards the garage and pointed to her. She gave them the thumbs up. With their weapons at the ready, they entered her detached garage. They came out, motioned again to her that she was safe and then went to the back door. She came to the door, thanked them and told them that she and her son were quite safe inside.
She was terrified of the guy on the loose and was grateful for the professionalism of law enforcement. These cops were guys who live in the community. Doesn’t mean that it will be this way every other time some city tries to do this, but from eye witness commentary from reliable people, I do not think there was a problem in Watertown. They were NOT pulling people out of their homes by gun point. There was video of cops with young children in their arms running them out of the line of fire.
There is a lot of unconstitutional crap going on around us, but this wasn’t part of that. It does highlight the importance of community police departments rather than a federal force.
Like when they come around the coastal areas during hurricanes and force people to leave their property or not allow people access to their homes in a wildfire in an attempt to save it. In the same vein however you see members of the press running freely all over disaster zones because they are the press.
Caveat, if you don’t want to leave then the government has no liability for your safety.
There was one video I saw that was disturbing, but for the most part, I suspect you are right.
They did not have so much as a single warrant stating the area to be searched was “Watertown” and the purpose “find a suspect”. Nothing. Nada. No question they could have obtained one that broad before enough personnel arrived to start searching. Warrantless searches are only appropriate when there truly is no time under the circumstances; they had all day to get one here.
Good post. Has anyone who actually lives in the area complained about police behavior? I have yet to hear of it. Believe me, I’m not a “the cops are always right” kind of guy, but it seems crys of “Gestapo” are not coming from the folks who were there.
4th Amendment (Due Process)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
—
Sounds like unless there was a warrant it probably was an unreasonable search.
King George III did not give us the Patriot Act, Transportation Security Act, National Defense Authorization Act and Homeland Security.
Bingo, we have a winner. But Dear Leader dearly wants a Federal Police force that is armed as well as our Army. FUBO!
No one has identified the address where that video took place. If that were a drug house full of illegal aliens, I would be cheering.
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